Washington and Lee University - Calyx Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

Page 18 text:

Freshmal Orientation September 3-5, 1984 Right, Freshmen are briefed on the merits of learnmg another language. Below left, David Sizemore and Andrew Caruther: discuss the Honor System near the Liberty Hall ruin. Below right. Freshmen receive Bibles after a session in Lee Chapel. Opposite, the last part of the swim test is the most grueling: can you tread water for five minutes? 14 The Year on Campus

Page 17 text:

maintain an outstanding teaching faculty, and we can do that only if ue proyide the proper environment in which we can exist In addition to an improved academic environment, 1 believe there would be a greatly improved soaal environment. In mv lengthy report at the Mav Board of Trustees meehng I conveyed my subcommittee ' s conviction that coeduca- tion would result in strongly positive changes occurring throughout the soaal and extracurncular life of the University This conviction is shared not only by most facult - members but also by the administration and probably bv most of the students. Without questioning for a moment the sincerity and depth of feeling con- veyed to all of us by the dozens of alumni who have wntten to express their views, I believe that our responsibility as Trustees is not to protect the alumni ' s perception of what W L was like when thev were here — although I think we hope to do that Rather, it is to do whatever is necessary to foster an atmo- sphere and expenence which best results in our institutional purpose bemg achieved. After all, would not those same alumni who oppose coeducation so vocally now be even more upset if we permitted W L to decline in quality And are they not likeh ' to be more proud and supportive of a high-qualir ' coeducational universit)- than a mediocre all-male university! ' We must hnd a way, as Dr. Sidney M.B. Coulling (head of the department of English) suggested in his letter to President Wilson, to combine properly the concepts of being distinctive and distinguished We can be dishnctive as a coed institution if we dishnguish ourselves by the quality of our academic program and bv the encouragement and appreciation of the values and traditions which we all believe are so much a part of the W L experience we want to preserve and which frequently are not a part of the expenence found at other institutions. Therefore, when Jack Warner says, Dare to be different ' 1 would respond ' At what cost and at what loss of opportunity ' ' Do we invest our energy and our talent and our funds tr -ing to be better — or use them up tr ing not to get worse! ' Perhaps those who sav if it ain ' t broke, don ' t hx it are really saving that nothing has changed at Washington and Lee 1 But it If a change that the academic quality ' of our students is declining. Our SAT scores are down more than the national average and more than our competition. The comments about student quality contained in faculty letters to President Wilson, and subsequently conveyed to us, are alarming. 2. And It IS a change that, sociologically, the role of the female in the United States during this last third of the 20th century is dramatically different from what is has e ver been before in the history of this country — indeed, in the history of the world — and there is no suggeshon that this is the only a fad that will go away. In that regard, a case can be made and should be made that if is poor judgement (and maybe worse) to deny W L ' s special qualities to talented effective females who are and will be so important a part of the leadership of this nahon in the future. 3 And If is a change, demographicallv. that the number ot college-bound student will be in a dramatic decline for many years ahead and that the competition for that smaller number of students is increasing The financial aid packages available to students from pnvate and state universities are impres- sive and are an indication of what the marketplace will reflect even more intensely in the future 4. Finally, but importantly, it is a change, again sociologically, that there is less and less interest among college-bound students — especially males — in attending single-sex institutions In this environment, W L is increasingly perceived to be weird, not just different, and not |ust an educahonal alterna- tive. Young people today are more sophisticated and aware than ever before, and they feel a need to be compatible with this changed world What do 1 believe it will mean to Washington and Lee University ' to remain all male ' 1 Basically, that we will spend our energy and our funds simply tr -ing to hold on, trying to prove to the world and to ourselves that we are something special, and having fewer and fewer believe us as our own self-doubt in- creases 2. We will lose market share and be forced to take more students of lesser qualit -, then we will begin to lose our fine faculty, and eventuallv we will lose our reputahon Already we have alumni telling us that thev are not impressed by the fact that the company we keep in the all-male school category includes Hampden-Sydney, Wabash, a technical school, and two military schools w ' hile the company thev want us to keep includes the University- of Virginia, W ' lUiams, Dartmouth, Pnnceton, Amherst, Brown, Yale, Duke, Vanderbilt, and a host of others. 3. Finally, the same — and even more — alumni who said Don ' t go coed ' will begin to sa ' VVh% ' did ou let this happen to mv school It has been said that voung men choose Washington and Lee for every reason except for its gender. 1 believe that we should offer an instituhon which both voung men and voung women choose for non-gender reasons. I believe we should emphasize academic qualify most of all — as found in close student-facult ' relationships and the diversity- and excellence of our academy- program — and 1 belie e we should emphasize the traditions and values which we have here and which we otter to all u .to are a part ot the L community 1 belie% ' e that we should make clear — beginning today — that it is our intention that those values and traditions found here are to be pursued and supported in a spint of renewed commitment, and 1 believe we accomplish this bv conveying in a tone ot conhdence, conviction, and canng, a decision to become coeducational at the undergraduate level of our academic program 1 believe we should announce that decision tf r alumni and our other constituencies in a positn e. torceful way with emp, ;asis on our belief that the best way to keep intact those special qualihes that ,T,ost alumni and faculty and students and administrators realty think are important, is to become coeduca- tional — and that this Board of Trustees believes this is the best way to insure our continued meaningful role as one of the better small uni ' ersities in this countr - I believe we should go to work immediately, carefully planning what we want to sav to our future male and female students, telling them ot the traditions, academic excellence, values and codes of conduct that are found at this special place, and hnally dealing from strength and not being afraid to do so, u e tell them what we expect relahve to their behavior and pertormance We communicate to our president, and ask him to communicate to his staff and faculty, that we are going to have a hrst-rate institution here — an institu- tion that reaches out to voung men and uoung iconicn who have exhibited the abilities and talents which we want to nuture and encourage here and we bring these voung people into this communit ' which we call Washington and Lee University We educate them splendidly We reintorce the values and traditions that we believe are so important — strong character, a sense of honor and integrit ' . responsibility, leadership, and most of all academic proficiency. And we send them out into this volatile, changing world to be successful individuals in their personal, family, and business lives, leaders in their communities and profes- sions — as W L pndes itself on doing — and we ask them to be loyal and generous to the institution which educated them and which reinforced the ideals that caused us to bring them here in the beginning, the same ideals that are within this Board and this administrahon and this faculty Deep down inside of me, I believe that a coeducahonal Washington and Lee will permit this to happen 1 believe that the academic, sociological, economic, and political realities of the world that we are living in — and will be living in — will not permit that to occur at and all-male Washington and Lee Will Washington and Lee change ' Of course it will, as it has done so man ' times in the past. Do I have concerns about our future ' Y ' es, I do. 1 I am most concerned that the disenchantment among man ot our alumni might be more severe than we realize and that the absence of support w ill be greater than we expect, not |u5t support of the pocketbook but support of the spirit. 1 take some encouragement from knowing that similar situations were overcome so quickly at other inshtutions, and I know of no reason why Washington and Lee alumni are less loval or less understanding than alumni of other institutions which we admire. 2. I am concerned that we will not make the transition as smoothly as we hope, that we won ' t plan for it as well as we should or execute it as well as we could, and that this will cause anxious moments. This concern must cause us to make doubly certain that it is not warranted 3- 1 think It is likely that we will lose a little of the intangible qualit ' that we have trouble totally defining but which we know is there and which we and so many alumni fear will be lost. But with these concerns having been expressed, it is mv hrm belief that the advantages and benehts and positive aspects resulhng from coeducahon will greatly outweigh the disadvantages and the problems and that this will become apparent to us quickly We have the burden and the pnvilege of being in a posihon to act at this time on this cntical issue. It will take courage to vote in favor of such a dramatic change, but in mv heart of hearts, I believe we will ha e made the right decision for the future of this inshtuhon to which all of us are devoted. — Rqmnted by pertyuffion from the July 1984 issue of the Alumni Magazine of Washington and Lee University. The Year on Car ipus 13

Page 19 text:

' I ' 9 m m mmm fommm mmmm m»m mmmm « • mmmm ' »mm mmmm fmmm «.»•• ' •• mmmm mmmm mmmm •filial mmmm ttNlllf tt » M «• mmmm • ■liii lMMIi«l • ■ai« iiibaii« •«•• ;uu ••« Mll«ll «««« • iiMtt ■i««i« «•!«• «««« • ••I »«««! tttttttt • ttttll ■ liWtt ««Bfttt